RIDER LEGENDS HONOURED
Reed, Lancaster statues unveiled
George Reed and Ron Lancaster were close friends on and off the field. Now that friendship has been cemented with statues of the pair side-by-side outside of Mosaic Stadium.
“(Lancaster) was the quarterback and I was running back, but off the football field our families were very close and we did a lot of things together and I couldn’t think of anything better than to be sitting beside his statue,” Reed said.
The statues were unveiled Saturday during the Saskatchewan Roughriders fan appreciation day.
For Lana Mueller, Lancaster’s daughter, it was a bittersweet day.
“We’ve just become part of the community and in my dad’s words he was just somebody that did his job. So for this it’s a little overwhelming,” she said.
Standing at six-and-half-feet-tall the statues are meant to represent how Lancaster and Reed were larger-than-life players.
Reed’s statue is modelled after a photo of him calmly looking back as he’s running away from defenders. Lancaster’s statue shows him handing off the football to all of Rider Nation.
FUTURE GENERATIONS
They were designed and created by the fine art studio of Rotbaltt-Amrany. The company has sculpted other iconic sports figures, such as Shaquille O’Neal, Michael Jordan and Vince Lombardi, along with the 13th man statue at Mosaic Stadium unveiled earlier this year.
Lancaster and Reed were important for the history of the Roughriders and old Mosaic Stadium, so the organization wanted to make sure future generations of fans would know about them.
The statues were placed on the west side of the stadium, in front of the entrance to the team’s football operations office, to remind players about the team’s past.
“So when we bring players in here, when our players come in here everyday, when new coaches and players come in here, they’re going to look at these guys and we want them to know about our history and the greats that played here before them,” said Gregg Sauter, vice-president business development and marketing with the Roughriders.
Lancaster is the all-time franchise leader in passing attempts, completions and yards with 46,710 and touchdowns at 299. He was the first quarterback to throw for 50,000 yards and retired as the CFL’s all-time leading passer, a title he held for more than 20 years. He was a seven-time West Division all-star, four-time CFL all-star and two-time CFL MVP. He lead the Riders to 14 straight playoff appearances, five Grey Cup appearances and the Riders claimed their first Grey Cup title under his direction in 1966.
Reed is the leader in franchise carries with 16,116 yards and 134 rushing touchdowns. He is second in CFL history with 137 touchdowns and retired as the CFL’s all-time leading rusher, a title he held for 30 years. He registered 66 career 100-yard games and has a CFL record of 11 seasons with 1,000 rushing yards. He was named a West Division all-star 10 times, a CFL all-star nine times and the CFL MVP in 1965.